Foundry plant



Patented Apr. l8, I899.

w. w. DOOLITTLE.

FOUNDRY PLANT. A ucacion filed Oct 11, 1897.)

3 Sheets-Sheet l.

' (Ila Model.)

: mam: PETERS co. Dunno-urns" wnsum No. 623,355. Patented Apr. I8, I899.

W. W. DUOLITTLE. FOUNDRY PLANT 7 (Application filed Oct. 11, 1897.) (No Mode!.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

no 623,355. Patented Apr. I8, 1899.

w. w. DOOLVIITTLE. FOUNDRY PLANT.

(Application filed m 11, 1897.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT rricn.

\VILLIAM XV. DOOLITTLE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FOUNDRY PLANT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 623,355, dated April 18, 1899.

A plication filed October 11, 1897.

To (all whont it may concern.-

Be it known that LWILLIAM W. DOOLITTLE, a citizen of the United States, residing in Ohicago, Cook county,Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Foundry Plants, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention has for its object the provision of a foundry plant wherein the amount of man uallabor required is reduced to a mini mum and the cost of the casting operations thereby materially reduced.

My invention is designed particularly for use in the construction or manufacture of carwheels or similar articles of which a large number are required from the same pattern. I aim to so arrange the different parts of the apparatus as to make the manufacture of such castings practically a continuous operation; and to this end I so arrange all of the different parts of the apparatus as to permit each to be utilized to the best advantage in conjunction with the rest without any interference of one with another.

In the practice of my invention I employ, preferably, a plurality of molding-machines, generally two, one for making the drag and another the cope portion of the mold. These two machines I place near together, and adjacent to or between them I arrange suitable devices for lifting the different completed portions of the mold from the molding-machines to the floor and placing them one upon the other in proper position after the necessary cores have been inserted and they are otherwise ready to be so arranged.

It is now proper to call attention to the fact that in designing the portion of the plant last above referred to a very difficult problem presents itself because of the nature of a mold. Generally speaking, this consists of two parts-the drag, or lower part, and the cope, or upper part. The drag as soon as finished can be removed from the machine on which it was made and placed at one side upon the floor, permitting the carrying mechanism which transferred it to be freed and used in the transfer of another drag to an adjacent place upon the floor; but the cope, being the upper part of the mold, must in some mann er,when taken off the machine, be suspended Serial No. 654,791- (No model.)

. and held in such suspended position out of the way of the molding-machine and until such time as'the cores have been set in the drag and the latter is ready to have the cope placed upon it. This of course prevents the use of the carrying or transferring mechanism by which any particular cope is suspended for the removal of any other cope until the mold to which the first cope belongs is completed. As aresult of this, while a single mechanism as, for example, a gibcraneis sufficient to transfer all of the drags to the floor from the molding-machine as soon as they are completed by the machine, a number of transferring devices must be used in combination with the machine which makes the copes or else the operation of the whole plant will be delayed by virtue of the fact that the copemachine cannot operate faster than the molds can be removed therefrom. In order to overcome the objection recited, I employ a plurality of transferring devices, preferably four air-hoists, in connection with the cope-machine, each of these devices or hoists being mounted independently of the others and in such a'manneras will enable them to be readilybroughtinto position to lift the cope from the machine and then carry the same out to a place where they can hold the cope in suspended position until it can be placed upon the drag without interfering either with the operation of the molding-machine in the formation of additional copes or with the operation of the other transferring devices or the work necessary to be done upon the molds upon the floor. In order to secure the continuous operation above referred to, I construct, adjacent to these molding-machines and extending out some distance into the surrounding space,a track carrying an overhead traveling crane, a second track carrying a casting-ladle, and a third track with a movable carrier thereon, designed to remove the completed castings. All of these tracks for a portion of their length are arranged parallel and adjacent to each other, for a purpose which will hereinafter be more particularly described. To more perfectly secure the'object desiredthat is, to make the operation practically a continuous one and reduce the cost of the labor to a 1ninimumI prefer to arrange the tracks referred to in duplicate,

throughout itslength where the sand is to be shoveledirom the floor into the trough.

For a better understanding of the above and such other objects of my invention as may hereinafter appear, reference may now be had to the accompanying drawings, in \vhicl1- Figure 1 is a plan view showing a foundry plant embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is an end view showing the various carrying devices u-pon their respective tracks. Fig. 4 shows the molding-machine which is employed inthe manufacture of the cope. Fig. 5 shows the one which is employed in the manufacture of the drag.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 1, it will be seen that I employ two molding-machinesone (marked 7) for making the drag portion of the mold and another (marked 8) for. making thecope. These two machines are arranged near together, but sufficiently far apart to permitthe introduction between them of a small gib-crane 9, placed in position to swing around over the machine 7 and transfer the completed drags therefrom to the positions on the floor marked 10, 11, 12, and 13. Immediately above these four positions and extending also above the swinging or projecting arm of the crane are arranged a couple of curved tracks 1+1 and 15, which extend around to a point directly over the moldingmachine 8. Upon these tracks are arranged movable air-hoists 16, 16, 16 and 16 for lifting the copes from the machine 8, carrying them around, holding them suspended in the position indicated in dotted lines at 1O, 11, 12, and 13, and putting them in place upon the drags which had before been set in place by the gib-crane 9.

Extending past the molding-machines, on each side thereof and partially over the spaces 10, 11, 12, and 13, are a pair of double-rail tracks 17, which are built out some distance into the molding-room. Upon each of these tracks is arranged a traveling crane 18, (see Figs. 2 and 3,) employing, preferably, an airhoist 19, which lifts the molds from their places upon the floor adjacent to the moldingmachines and carries them out into the room, depositing them in a row upon the floor in the positions marked 20.

In close proximity to one of the rails of the track 17 I arrange a second track 21, carrying a traveling ladle-hanger 22, which supports a ladle 23. This track comes from the cupola,which may be located in any convenient place, and for that portion of its length which is above the row of molds upon the floor it extends parallel with the track 17 and is in fact preferably secured to one of the hangers 24: thereof. At the point 21, where the track crosses the tracks 25, thereis a narrow slot in the rail of the track 25, through which the narrow part 22 of the ladle-trolley may pass.

On a plane somewhat lower than that of the track 21 I arrange a third track 25, carrying a grapling device 26, employed to remove the completed castings when the molds are broken up. This third track throughout that portion of its length which is above the row of molds upon the foundry-floor runs parallel with the first two tracks, and thence out to the annealing-pits or any other place where it may be desired to deposit the wheels after they are removed from the sand. This third track 25 is also preferably supported by the hanger 24, which supports one of the rails of the track 17, as shown in Fig. 3.

Extending out from the two molding-machines 7 and 8, between the two sets or rows of tracks .and molds, I provide a sand-carrier 2'7, constructed in the shape of a trough, (see Fig. 6,) provided upon its inside with a continuously-moving endless chain or belt havingattached blades 28 constructed to deliver the sand to the buckets 29 of the elevatorbelt 30, from which it is again discharged into an upper trough 31, (see Figs. 4 and 5,) in which by means of the endless carrier 32 it is distributed to the two molding-machine hoppers 33 and 34.

Upon the upper edges of the trough 27 I provide a movable sieve 35, adapted to be pushed from one place to another and employed to riddle the sand as it is shoveled into the trough from the space on the floor adjacent to the row of molds 20.

In case it be desired to extend the track 25 out across the track 17 it is necessary to provide the former with a switch 36, arranged as shown in Fig. 1, in order that there may be no interference with the movement of the traveling cranes 18 and ladle-carriers 22.

In the practice of my invention I first form the drag by the machine 7, transferring it by means of the gib-crane 9 to an adjacent point upon the floorsay at lO-where it is made ready to receive the cope. The cope is now formed upon the machine 8 (another drag being formed in the meantime upon the machine 7 to be transferred to one of the other places 11, 12, or 13) and by means of the movable air-hoist 16 is carried around to the position 10, where it is held suspended out of the way while other copes are being molded and transferred by the other hoists until the drag is ready to receive it, when it is placed in position upon the drag, forming the completed mold. This mold is now lifted by the airhoist 19 and carried out to the foundry-room and put in one of the places 20, a row of such I molds being thus obtained on each side of the sand-carrier. The row on one side is poured by a ladle carried along the track 21 while the row on the other side is being completed, and as soon as the mold is sufficiently coolit is'shaken out, the crane 18 being used for that purpose, and the wheel taken by the traveling carrier 26 out over the track 25 to any desired point, the sand from the mold being now shoveled on the floor adjacent to the sand-carrier 2'7 and sprinkled with water to temper and cool it. The movable sieve 35 (which may be any ordinary construction of sand-riddle and which, asit constitutes in itself no part of my present invention, is shown only in a conventional manner and will not be herein more specifically described) is now placed in proper position upon the carrier 27 and the sand being shoveled into it drops through and is carried back to the moldingmachines. The empty flasks 13 are set over in a row in the places marked 37 ready to be used again as soon as required and leaving the spaces 20 ready for the formation of another row of completed molds. By thus setting up a row of molds upon one side ready to be poured while the casting and clearing away are being done on the other side the operation is made practically continuous, each side being treated in its-turn in likemanner.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A foundry apparatus comprising the combination with a drag-molding machine and a drag-transferring device constructed to deliver the mold-sections therefrom, of a copemolding machine, anda plurality of copetransferring devices cooperating therewith, each cope-transferrin g device having an overhead track leading from the cope-molding machine and constructed to intersect the path of the drag-transferrin g device.

WILLIAM W. DOOLITTLE.

Witnesses:

PAUL SYNNESTVEDT, HESTER BAIRD. 

